[lightyears.blogs.cnn.com]
"Elon Musk has a lot on his mind these days. “I’m simultaneously excited and nervous,” says the CEO and founder of commercial rocket company SpaceX.

If all goes as planned, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a Dragon capsule on top will lift off from Cape Canaveral on Saturday on a mission never before attempted by a private rocket company."

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Every geek's dream... build your own spaceship and fly into orbit. MASSIVE Envy !

Just praying all goes well!
This is pretty close to a "make or break" mission... if this mission doesn't go well, they're going to have a tough time getting investors to stay on board long enough for the second ISS supply mission.

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
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Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--
Eureka, CA

Yeah, I'd hate to see any more space disasters.

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Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated?
Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkes.

Western Massachusetts



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2012 11:05AM by blooz.

Quote
blooz
Yeah, I'd hate to see any more space disasters.

Well, fortunately, this (and many future) Dragon missions are unmanned.... and this first one has a long laundry list of maneuvers and software tests it has to pass before approaching ISS - so I'm more concerned about SpaceX's financial security at this point.

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Paul F.
-----
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--
Eureka, CA

Quote
blooz
Yeah, I'd hate to see any more space disasters.

If they can keep it up in regular space for 82 seconds they'll have N. Korea beat.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2012 11:33AM by billb.

Heh heh...
They've already got N. Korea beat.... this isn't the first Falcon 9 rocket to fly SUCESSFULLY!

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Paul F.
-----
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--
Eureka, CA

Commercial space ventures are only 60 or 70 years behind where Heinlein and others thought we would be. At least it's actually happening, though. I had long since given up on commercial spaceflight, other than launching privately owned satellites, so these space entrepreneurs really have my interest!

Here's the launch description:
[www.spacex.com]

I've been told that there will be a live Webcast at the SpaceX web site.
[www.spacex.com]